Street Team Crusade Challenge # 30

Yes, if it is the beginning of the month, it is time for a new crusade issued by Michelle Ward. This month the title is "Cat Got Your Tongue." Michelle states that this is a "prompt to get you to think about 'journaling,' the writing you add to a page." She then discusses how to "Use your WORDS" and "USE your Words." It is a fascinating topic for me and one I never shy away from. I kept a diary when I was 13 years old for one full year and have that diary to this day. I have always written and so journaling is nothing new to me. I also don't hate my handwriting which I hear a lot of us talk about as a reason for not using handwriting in our art work.

I have several examples already of my journaling that I have used in different notebooks and my "Painted Page" journal done at Michelle's workshop in May 2008. I had to show you a photo of Michelle at work - it is a wonder to behold when she is lost in the creation!

So, let's start with my Painted Page journal that I love working in and have used for a number of these challenges:

I call the left had side the "Druid Tree." These two pages were painted at the workshop and then worked on at home.

The story about the Druid Tree is one I made up, the title, "The Tree and the Druid," I found in an old murder mystery book.

The next page was also done at the workshop. Michelle gave us some really cool tags! When I got home, I was playing with the page and filled in specifics on the tag....

I am awed with artists who can write all over the page and in circles - yes I am awed and I know we have a number of artists in these crusades who can do this. I don't work that way. In other journals I just add images and then just start . . . These two pages are not close together but both deal with karma in one way or another. In the first page below I spelled out Karma using the Tim Holtz distressables doodads.

I travel with a dedicated small visual journal for trips - business or otherwise. While on the road, I gather stuff to put in it. Sometimes I work in the book while sitting in airports. I really enjoy abusing this little journal and sew in it a lot. This was a page that was done on my "Halloween" Madison WI trip. I had to work in Madison over Halloween and those of you who know me really know this is my favorite time of the year. The hotel had 6 TV channels dedicated to sports alone - no sci-fi channel, no travel channel, no food channel - it sucked. As you can tell from my journaling. (No, I really am not hanging the cat. Sewing was on the other page.) I called the cat "pumpkin head."

Thank you Michelle for this topic. I do it a lot but don't think about it. Oh yes, one way I "USED my words was on a page called Orleans! What a way to end with two ads - one from Netflix and one from Martha Stewart Living all leading to Orleans!